NMDC joins the ranks of headless PSUs

As the year came to close, another leading state-owned firm, NMDC, became headless, joining the list of public sector units such as Coal India, MMTC and NHPC, mainly on account of tardy selection process and bureaucratic hurdles. Nearly a dozen central public sector entities do not have a full time chairman and managing director and, in some cases, the post has been vacant for up to a year or more.

For instance, MMTC is without a CMD since October 1, 2010 while NHPC's top post has been vacant since January 1, 2011. Similarly CIL, Nalco, SJVNL, National Fertilisers, Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore Ltd have been without a top official in-charge since March 2011. Hindustan Aeronautics, MECON and MECL are some other PSUs without a full time CMD. “Such a scenario is hurting business activities, since acting executives are devoid of powers to take crucial decisions," chairman of a top PSU said on the condition of anonymity, adding that "on many occasions, acting CMDs get challenged by the other Board members due to rivalry".

In the case of NMDC, its chairman Rana Som retired yesterday (on December 31). However, the Cabinet Committee on Appointments is yet to approve the name of the Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) candidate picked almost six months back, said a source.

In most cases, either PESB acted late or vigilance clearance had not been received or the parent ministry did not favour the PESB choice and the selected panel had to be scrapped, sources added. For example, appointment of full time MMTC chairman has been dragging since October 2009 due to the about-turn taken by the commerce ministry on the selection process, as it now wants to appoint an Additional Secretary level officer from the central services for the top job.

Another glowing example the appointment of a full time chairman for aluminium PSU Nalco, whose last CMD is under suspension over graft charges since February 26, 2011. The selection process for Nalco Chairman by Mines Ministry is yet to begin, even though tenure of its acting CMD as Board member will end in February 2012, sources pointed out. Citing the example of NHPC and Coal India, they said that the delay is often from the PESB side, which has been entrusted the job to find a suitable candidate for the PSUs. PESB's recommendation for NHPC CMD's post came only after 9 months (in September, 2011) of the retirement of the last full time CMD.